Miracle Lessons
When John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to Jesus inquiring whether He was the promised Messiah, Jesus’ response was, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Luke 7:22-23). It is easy to look at the miracles Jesus performed and say only the Messiah could do such things. While this is true, I do believe that if we look at the details of some of these miracles there are certainly lessons to be learned and imitated.
A Leper’s Request
In the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, verse 40 tells us that a leper came to Jesus imploring Him to make him clean. Verse 41 tells us that Jesus miraculously healed the leper. What I want to concentrate on are the details that Mark adds. Verse 41 also tells us that Jesus was moved with pity and that He stretched out His hand and touched the leper. Jesus could have healed the leper without touching him, yet He chose to. Why? And why does Mark tell us that Jesus was moved with pity? More importantly, what can we learn from these facts?
A Leper’s Agony
We don’t know the background of the leper, but we do know his existence must have been one of misery and loneliness. As if the disease and its physical consequences were not bad enough, the day the Priest pronounced him unclean he was separated from his family and his Synagogue. No more embracing loved ones. No more fellowship with his fellow Jews. Now his only companionship would be with other lepers, the sight of which would remind him of his disgusting disease. In the presence of others, he would have to shout “unclean”. With each passing day, the disease would cause further deformity of his body, but what was happening to his soul? The longing for affection must have been most agonizing. His agony did not go unnoticed.
A Leper Touched
According to Leviticus, only a priest could touch a leper. The priests had the responsibility of diagnosing leprosy and the privilege of pronouncing a leper clean. But only the Great High Priest “who has passed through the heavens” could actually cleanse a leper. And so He did. Moved by sympathy Jesus touched the leper. No law could stop Him. No repugnance would dissuade Him. No fear of contagion could stay His hand. No force can stop the hand of God once sympathy has set it in motion.
Clean
What did the leper feel? What did he think when Jesus began to stretch out His hand? How did he feel when he showed himself to the priest and was restored to his family and the fellowship of the Synagogue? If you are a Child of God you should have a pretty good idea. When you were unclean God in His sympathy reached out His hand and touched you and made you clean. You have been adopted into His family, the church. No more are you identified by loneliness and agony of the soul.
A Touch of Christ
While the physical leprosy of Jesus’ day is not prevalent today, spiritual leprosy is. We are surrounded by people every day who are starving for the touch of Christ. They need to experience the sympathy of the church. They are looking for us to identify with them and touch them. God came down to our level to meet us! How can we think we are above anyone else? Alexander McLaren once said, “The literal touch of your hand would do more good to some poor outcasts than much solemn advice,…A shake of the hand might be more of a means of grace than a sermon..”.
If a physical touch isn’t an option, how about an act of service or a word of encouragement. When you make the effort, you will touch the heart of God. “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” – Matthew 25:40.